Wildfires in Australia

The fires consuming parts of eastern Australia continued into a second week; already among the largest to hit the country's most-populous state since the 1960s, they've destroyed more than 200 homes.

Updated Oct. 22, 2013 5:10 a.m. ET

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Firefighters along a road at Bilpin, 75 kilometers (about 50 miles) west of Sydney Tuesday. Authorities have warned that hotter weather and increased winds are expected, making the fires more difficult to control.
Rob Griffith/Associated Press…

With a friend at the front wheel, Paul Bousfield sat on the remains of his Suzuki motor bike at his burnt-down property in the Blue Mountains suburb of Winmalee, west of Sydney, Tuesday.
Lukas Coch/European Pressphoto Agency…

Crews protected a property in the township of Berambing in the Blue Mountains Tuesday.
Dan Himbrechts/European Pressphoto Agency…

Lyndon Dunlop and his father at the remains of the Winmalee home of the boy's grandparents Monday. One man has died and hundreds of properties have been destroyed in bushfires that are devastating the Blue Mountains and Central Coast regions of New South Wales.
Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images…

Lyndon Dunlop's grandmother Sue Dunlop sat amid what was left of the home where she had lived for 41 years.
Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images…

Tea cups sat on a letterbox at a home destroyed by bushfire Monday.
Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images…

Near Mount Victoria in the Blue Mountains Monday, firefighters took a break after back burning to try to prevent one enormous blaze from merging with others to produce what officials warned could be a "megafire."
William West/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images…

Delia Smith and her husband, Colin, inspected the twisted reamins of her family's house in Winmalee Monday.
David Gray/Reuters…

A burnt out-car sat in front of a burnt-out house in Winmalee Friday. Residents faced scenes of devastation after bushfires destroyed hundreds of homes, with dozens of blazes still burning out of control.
Greg Wood/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images…

Family members reacted to the sight of their home's remains in Winmalee.
Dan Himbrechts/European Pressphoto Agency…

A helicopter emptied its bucket on a fire at Yellow Rock in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, Friday.
James Brickwood/European Pressphoto Agency…

Sean Butler beside the skeleton of his 1958 bus after he and five other residents of the historic township of Newnes Junction fought a fire Thursday.
Dean Lewins/European Pressphoto Agency…

Rural Fire Service volunteers fought Thursday to save a house in Dargan.
Dean Lewins/European Pressphoto Agency…

The Ryobi Cup cricket match between the South Australian Redbacks and the Western Australia Warriors at Drummoyne Oval on Oct. 17 in Sydney took place under an eerie sky as smoke from bush fires raging in the western Sydney suburbs of Springwood, Winmalee and Lithgow. shrouded the city.
Getty Images…

Smoke billows from bush fires in Lithgow, New South Wales on Oct. 17. At least seven emergency warnings have been issued for out-of-control fires burning in New South Wales on Thursday, the state's Rural Fire Service said. The service said more than 60 bush fires were reported in the Australian state, including about 20 that are classified as out of control.
Reuters/Seven Network…

An airplane passes through the thick air caused by bush fires on the outskirts of Sydney on Oct. 17.
Jin Linpeng/Xinhua/Zuma Press…